Cruel to believe we won't be infected: DUTA echoes students' demand to cancel exams, writes to VC

After a mass email blast from students, now the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has also written to Acting Vice-Chancellor Dr PC Joshi requesting him to suspend classes and even cancel final exams for the time being. The letter said that the loss of so many live at the wake of the second wave of the pandemic has caused "physical and psychological trauma to all" and the varsity should be sensitive and take necessary steps to cancel classes and exams.

Many Heads of Departments have already written to the Dean of Examinations requesting that the exams for final year or semester students be postponed after a large number of teachers and students got infected, the letter further read. "Once again, the university must take a sensitive view of the situation that students and teachers find themselves in – no one is in a position to write or conduct examinations at this moment," said Dr Rajib Ray, President, DUTA.

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The DUTA also said that there is no point in behaving as if the teachers and students will be unaffected by the virus and steps should be taken to reach a solution. "The fact that students are battling illness of self and family members is evident from the fact that the attendance in classes has significantly dropped. It is cruel for us to continue to behave as if we ought to be unaffected by whatever is happening around us. Hence, the DUTA demands that classes be suspended as students and teachers are not mentally and physically in a state to continue with the teaching learning process," the letter read.